Frustrating one to lose, Hiroshima will be really happy managing to do us by 1 goal both home and away and with a weaker team in the away fixture resting their players. Wish we could say the same.
We should still progress from the group stage but it’s still a bit sad to see that little bit of a lack of quality that separates us from these very good Asian teams.
At the same time we have the excuse of some poor refereeing, missing Lolley/Costa, and also their keeper had a great game.
We were never going to win that with the Japanese Flash in goals and that ref.
A bit disappointing in the end. We couldn’t beat their B team. Loads of frustration due to their keeper having a great game and the referee having a bad one. We definitely had good moments but we didn’t play as well overall as we did over in Japan.
It is good, though, to see little signs that Talay was thinking of the league game. A lot of those subs must’ve been pre-planned.
Lacking direction big time.
Geez. I cant believe how dislikable Hiroshima are. Proper pack of cunts with the jersey pulling, hands in faces and diving in at any chance to stop play.
This was actually the most disappointing part. They were fine in their home game. I guess maybe the weaker team was instructed to make up for things by being ‘physical’ i.e. fouling us as much as possible. Ref needed to clamp down on it quick and when he failed to do so they knew they’d be having a field day.
But still I didn’t think Japanese team played like that and it’s disappointing to see.
They played like a Chinese team tonight.
Sena’s ability to shrug off defenders and get the pass away was great to watch on a number of occasions. Wonder whether it’s worth trying him further up the field when we are missing our other creators?
I’ve not thought this through but maybe?
The game was shit from a butt but the kids did pretty well I thought.
So this basically puts us into must win territory for our last two games yeah? Which means no room for a lot of rotation.
This loss really stings, just feels like an opportunity to finally beat a Japanese team pissed away by a trio of a cheating ref, the world’s greatest goalkeeper and diabolical finishing. Still, they played quite well around the rest of the pitch and good to see some new faces get some minutes.
Well at least the drive home routes me past a superior Portugese chicken restaurant in the form of Nandos Miranda.
Given our opponents, I’d say we could rotate a couple of players and still win pretty comfortably. I don’t think Talay will do that, though.
Yeah, feels unfair to come away from that without at least a point. Their keeper had a great couple of saves…. And we were not quick enough moving the ball in attack. Same as first game - we were competitive, but gulf in class in attack made a difference again.
We’re shipping too many goals because of Popovic. Another classic case tonight of him being caught out of position, or being beaten in a duel whether it’s on the ground or more worryingly, in the air.
He lost track of his man from almost half way for the goal and never tried to readjust completely ball watching.
Quintal looks like he might have something about him which was good to see.
I guess it could work but we already have so many other players who can play that exact same role
I’m not sure where the issue lies with the defense. Is it the fact that both Grant and JCP go high but aren’t fast enough tracking back? Is it Popovic being soft in duels? Redders doing 2024 redders things?
It’s not Matthews, that’s for sure. He gets better every game. At one point stepping forward into midfield and playing the best through ball of the night. But he’ll be going at the end of the season, there’s no doubt about that. And Popovic is only on loan till Jan. This problem won’t be solved till then.
Popovic looks like complete garbage in the air.
Milos Degenek is barely even making the bench for Crvena Zvezda. Time to bring him home in January.
Look at his yellow card last night.
He was chasing down a lumped ball over the top, was first to get there and should have got there yet he somehow was physically beaten to the ball and then he goes to grab him for a foul. It was just poor from a CB who is meant to be dominating a lot more than he has been.
The goal was a disaster, he looked like he had no idea where his man or the ball was (was pointing to others without realising his own) and pretends to try header the ball to clear it.
I understand why we signed him but surely Gurd gets a look in if that’s the competition.
Gurd gets done worse than that at NPL level…